Authorship and Impact of Gender-Specific Research in Major Radiology Journals

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to quantify the relationship between author gender and publication topic, as well as the impact of gender-related research.

Methods

We reviewed all original research publications in Radiology, American Journal of Roentgenology, and Academic Radiology from 2011 through 2015. For each article, we recorded the gender of all authors and the last author H-index, years in practice, and academic rank. The total citations and citation rate (citations per year) were calculated for each article. Articles were categorized as gender-neutral, women’s health, or men’s health.

Results

There were 1,934 publications involving 11,657 authors. Women represented 30% of first, 25% of last, and 28% of all authors. There were 1,596 (83%) gender-neutral, 276 (14%) women’s health, and 61 (3%) men’s health articles. Women’s health articles were associated with a female first (odds ratio OR] = 5.0, P < .001) and last author (OR = 6.4, P < .001), as well as more female authors (male = 1.4, female = 3.6, P < .001). Men’s health articles were associated with a male first (OR = 2.6, P = .004) and last author (OR = 2.2, P = .03). There were significantly more citations for men’s (43.5 ± 54.9, P < .001) and women’s health (27.6 ± 37.5, P < .008) articles than gender-neutral articles (21.9 ± 28.9). Similarly, the article citation rate was higher for men’s (10.6 ± 11.3, P < .001) and women’s health (6.8 ± 8.5, P = .004) articles than gender-neutral publications (5.3 ± 7.0).

Conclusion

Radiology researchers publish more often on topics related to their own gender. Furthermore, men’s and women’s health research generates more citations than gender-neutral research.